It made an adjusted pretax profit of £298.3m in the three months to 26 September - £500,000 more than last year and around £13m more than analysts expected.

With UK like-for-like sales slid by 0.9%, Sir Stuart Rose was in no mood to be triumphant though:

We have had a good start to the third quarter. However, the market remains competitive and, as we come up against volatile trading conditions last year, we remain cautious about the outlook for Christmas and the year ahead. We are increasingly confident that customers recognise and trust our outstanding quality, value and ethical stance

There was a noticeable pick-up in sales in October as we came up against the weak comparatives of the previous year: it was at this time last year that the publicity around the credit crisis and the demise of Lehman Brothers reached its height